"I-Igneel!!!"
Natsu's tears instantly burst from his eyes.
All the longing, grievance, and confusion he had carried erupted in that moment.
Like a cannonball fired from its barrel, he threw himself toward Igneel without caring about anything else, his voice already choked with tears.
"It's really you! Uwaaah! Igneel!!!"
Natsu shouted, his emotions completely out of control.
The Fire Dragon King Igneel lowered his enormous head slightly, allowing that small, burning-hot body to crash into his hard scales.
"Haa..."
Igneel released a low, gentle breath from his nose, like a long sigh filled with endless nostalgia.
The old dragon king gently rubbed against the boy who had lowered his head and begun sobbing, like a father comforting the child he had been separated from for many years.
Natsu hugged Igneel tightly and burst into loud tears, as though he wanted to cry out all the hurt he had felt over the years.
Even Natsu, who was usually so carefree, could not hold himself together at this moment.
Watching this scene, the guild members' eyes grew moist.
Some even felt a little envious.
Natsu had found his dragon father, but quite a few people in the guild had nowhere to go even if they wanted to find their fathers.
After the Fire Dragon King Igneel appeared, Wendy's body also began to change.
Magic power spread gently from her like the purest breeze, circling over the open ground nearby and forming a sphere of wind.
Inside the wind sphere, a dragon with a graceful body, smooth lines, and feather-like scales slowly took shape.
Unlike the Fire Dragon King Igneel beside her, she did not look like a traditional dragon.
Instead, she resembled an enormous white bird. Her wings were also covered in feathers, as if they carried the blessings of the sky.
"Wendy... my child..."
The Sky Dragon Grandeeney's eyes were as gentle as water, filled with endless love and longing.
She quietly watched the small, trembling figure below.
Her voice was like a heavenly melody, carrying the power to soothe the heart as it rang out tenderly.
"G-Grandeeney Mama!"
Wendy could no longer control herself. Tears fell like broken pearls as she took small, unsteady steps and ran toward that enormous figure.
Carla stood behind her, silently watching Wendy run toward the Sky Dragon Grandeeney.
Her own eyes were also filled with tears.
"That's wonderful..." Carla murmured.
She had found her mother, and now Wendy had found hers too.
From now on, Wendy would no longer be lonely by herself.
For a while now, whenever Carla went to see her mother, she had always felt a little guilty.
She and Wendy had clearly been inseparable all this time, but now she had another warm harbor, while Wendy's mother still had no news.
Now, Wendy's mother had returned too.
Carla finally no longer had to feel guilty.
There was nothing better than this.
"I missed you so much... I really missed you... Uu..."
Hugging Grandeeney and feeling the warmth of her feathers, Wendy kept sobbing, her crying soft, broken, and full of attachment.
Grandeeney spoke gently, her voice as soft as a mother lulling an infant to sleep.
"I know... I know everything... Wendy... you've worked so hard..."
Unlike Natsu and Gajeel, Wendy had been even younger when she left Grandeeney, so naturally Grandeeney had been even more unable to feel at ease.
Buzz!!!
On the other side, where Gajeel stood, silver-gray magic power suddenly erupted with the cold texture of metal and an indestructible sharpness.
Within that magic power, a massive dragon appeared, his entire body covered in armor-like plates that looked as though they had been forged from refined steel.
His whole frame was hard and angular, filled with a sense of raw power. What covered his body did not even look like scales. It looked like a full suit of armor.
"You brat. You still look like some vicious thug even after seeing me come back."
Metalicana's voice rang out, low and hoarse, carrying the rough texture of metal grinding against metal.
Yet there was a teasing note in his words, making him far less cold and hard than he appeared.
Gajeel's previously emotional expression instantly froze, then turned into that familiar awkward look of displeasure.
He wore a sour expression, acting as though he had no intention of paying attention to Metalicana.
But his slightly trembling shoulders and the light flickering in his eyes betrayed the turmoil in his heart.
Although Gajeel had always said he was too lazy to look for Metalicana and did not care where he had gone, in truth, he had never let go of any clue related to dragons.
Smack!
Metalicana stretched out a claw and pressed it directly onto Gajeel's head.
Gajeel failed to dodge in time and was immediately pinned beneath it.
"Hm. Your bones have gotten a lot tougher! Looks like you haven't been slacking off."
Metalicana continued speaking, laughter clear in his voice.
..
The appearance of the three dragons left everyone in Fairy Tail staring in a daze.
Even though the guild members had traveled far and wide and could be considered experienced, aside from Marco and Laxus, who among them had actually seen dragons?
The guild members who went to Tenrou Island for the trial had experienced the Black Dragon's attack, but even they had only seen it from far away.
They might not even have clearly seen what that Black Dragon looked like.
So apart from Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy, who had been raised by dragons, as well as Marco, Laxus, and Anna Heartfilia, this was truly everyone's first time seeing the legendary dragons.
Their excitement was naturally written all over their faces.
Of course, that was also because the three dragons before them were not dangerous.
If this had happened in the wild, the correct response would have been to turn around and run immediately.
After they briefly reunited and let the children calm down, the Fire Dragon King Igneel turned his gaze toward Anna Heartfilia.
"Anna, Acnologia did indeed attack them. The three of us can prove it. That was absolutely his presence."
Looking at Anna Heartfilia, the Fire Dragon King Igneel spoke.
The Fire Dragon King's words confirmed one thing: while he was inside Natsu's body, he truly could sense what happened outside.
"The wounds on the three of us only recovered recently, so our perception of the outside world has become sharper."
Igneel explained.
Previously, they had been focused on healing, and their awareness of the outside world had been extremely low. Unless something truly threatened the lives of Natsu and the others, they basically ignored everything.
It was not until X784, relying on the exceptionally dense magic power of this era, that they finally recovered most of their wounds after seven years.
"If Gajeel and the other two hadn't been teleported away that day... we probably would have come out and fought Acnologia to the death."
The Iron Dragon Metalicana added from the side.
When the Black Dragon attacked, the three of them had almost been unable to hold back.
There was no helping it.
They could not simply watch Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy die.
At that time, even if they had not been ready, they would have had to come out and stake everything on one fight.
None of them had expected the Black Dragon to appear then, especially when they had clearly not exposed their presences.
"It... it was actually true?!"
Igneel's words left Anna stunned.
The facts were already laid out before her.
Marco truly was terrifyingly strong, strong enough to oppose the Black Dragon with a human body!
"How is that possible?! He really could win against that Black Dragon?!"
If Marco had managed to repel Acnologia, then no matter how one phrased it, at minimum, he had fought the Black Dragon to a draw.
He might have even held the upper hand during the battle.
Anna simply could not imagine how Marco had done it.
"I wouldn't call it winning. I can only say I used everything I had to badly wound him. If the fight had continued back then, I probably wouldn't have beaten him."
"But he didn't dare to gamble either, because that hit really hurt him. I'm guessing he'd never been beaten that badly before."
Marco smiled as he spoke.
He had always been honest.
Saying he had "repelled the Black Dragon" was barely acceptable, but saying he had defeated it would be exaggerating far too much.
If he could truly beat it, he would not have been in such a hurry to destroy the Eclipse Gates and complete the mission.
"That is already amazing nontheless."
The Fire Dragon King Igneel sighed.
Others might not truly understand the Black Dragon's strength, but dragons like them knew it all too well.
More than four hundred years ago, that Black Dragon had already been capable of slaughtering dragons.
After four hundred more years, his strength could only be even more terrifying.
"It is precisely because you are here that we have chosen to appear at this time. With you here, our plan finally has hope of succeeding."
Looking at Marco, Grandeeney spoke very directly.
The main reason the three dragons had revealed themselves now was Marco.
Because of Marco's existence, they had finally seen hope of defeating the Black Dragon.
If Marco alone could severely wound the Black Dragon, then adding them and the Dragon Slayers meant that eliminating the Black Dragon was no longer an impossible dream.
Grandeeney's words made everyone turn to look at Marco.
There was no helping it.
Even these three dragons had to count on Marco to help destroy the Black Dragon.
The members of Fairy Tail naturally felt proud.
This was their Guild Master!
"No need to rush."
However, facing the gazes of the three dragons, Marco merely waved his hand calmly.
"Uh... what do you mean?"
Metalicana leaned closer and stared at Marco in confusion.
He found it strange.
Did Marco not also want to eliminate the Black Dragon?
Now that he had gained helpers like them, why was he suddenly in no hurry?
"Because I'm still growing. Right now, I don't have true confidence in defeating the Black Dragon, so there's naturally no need to rush. Time is on my side." Marco spoke as though it were only natural.
In his view, growing strong enough to casually kill the Black Dragon was only a matter of time.
And right now, the Black Dragon was seriously injured and temporarily no longer possessed the ability to destroy the world.
In that case, they could continue developing.
By the time the Black Dragon healed and came out seeking revenge, he would discover that the current Marco and the Marco he had met last time were no longer on the same level of combat power.
Perhaps by then, they would not even be in the same league.
Once Marco's words fell, everyone fell silent.
For a moment, no one knew what to say.
Marco was simply too confident. So confident that no one dared question him.
Of course, the members of Fairy Tail would never doubt Marco anyway.
Marco had always been growing stronger, as if he had no bottleneck, as though he could become infinitely stronger as long as he kept training.
"You... you mean... you can still become much stronger in a short time?"
The Fire Dragon King Igneel hesitated before speaking, his dragon eyes filled with confusion, as though he found this somewhat impossible.
It was not that he did not believe Marco's strength could still improve.
As time passed, a mage's magic power would accumulate, their use of magic would become more refined, and their strength would naturally increase.
But that kind of improvement came through slow accumulation. It was not something that happened in a short time.
And the Black Dragon's injuries certainly would not last forever.
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